Note:

What used to be here was an opinion for the time being was that as of Patch 4.11. Kayle would no longer be viable. This was because I only looked at the Base Value of the AP Ratio on Kayle's E and not what she has gained in the past to compensate for it. I now believe that she will still remain viable but she will be simply returned to the state that she was in at the end of 2012 after the Buffs to her Righteous Fury and not as strong as she has been for the majority of Season 4.

Nevertheless. Because this Build (as all Kayle Guides do) revolves alot around the Damage that Kayle does on her Righteous Fury, there will be extensive changes going through the guide. For now, I would advise to take numerical values of Damage or anything relating to her E with a Pinch of Salt.

Thanks

ExtremeKabuto

Notes Relating to Build

Due to the Build not factoring in numerous Passives as well as the omittance of the Masteries in this Build, The Cheat Sheet is incorrect. The actual values are as follows:

Introduction

~~~~
Hi. My Name is ExtremeKabuto. I've been playing League of Legends for about a year now and picked up Kayle as my first champion early on. I really have taken a massive liking to her. I've played her considerably more then any other champion and she is definitely my go-to-gal when I want to have some fun. Kayle is also one of the most versatile champions in the whole game lane-wise at the moment which means I've had the chance to try her in every conceived position; ADC, Support, Top, Mid & Jungle. You name it, I've played her there..

This is my first guide on Mobafire and I'm open to any criticisms anyone may have about the following build. It will assist me in improving this build and making it a force to be reckoned with..... See what I did there? ;) I hope you enjoy reading this build as much as I did creating it :)

Pros & Cons

~~~~

Pros & Cons

PROS

CONS

000~ Great Bully During Laning Phase

000

~ Mana Hungry Early on

000~ Ability to Sit back & Farm

~ Relatively Squishy Early Game

~

000~ AOE Dmg great for Teamfights

~

000~ Clutch Ults FTW!

~

000~ Incredible Damage/Second

~

Changes to AP Kayle

~~~~
There have been a few major changes over that past couple of years which have really seen the emergence of Kayle as a viable AP pick. For the Majority of Season 2, Kayle was commonly picked as a Solo-Top AD. The rest of the time she was played as a Hybrid Build. Not many people played Kayle AP because it was inferior to the damage that both Hybrid and AD could provide to a team.

However, during August 2012, Kayle's Righteous Fury, which used to have an AP Scaling Ratio of 0.2 was buffed to 0.4. Essentially meaning that for every 10 AP built on Kayle, It would translate to an additional 4 damage on her auto-attack when Righteous Fury was active. As will be seen later, Kayle also has another two increases to her Auto-Attack Scaling; Arcane Blade which essentially bumps her AA up to .45 AP Scaling and then a Buff to Nashor's Tooth in Patch 3.08 added another 0.15 AP Scaling to it for essentially a total AP Scaling of 0.6

With the Emergence of AP Kayle and her incredible ability to bully her lane opponent but still be able to passively farm if she was being out-bullied., A Passive Ability of her Reckoning to amplify any Damage done for 4 Seconds after it was hit was removed and instead, her Q now applies 1 stack of Holy Fervor, Her Passive. Her Reckoning also now applies a more potent slow, the higher it is leveled but it only lasts for 3 seconds now instead of 4.

The Beginning of Season 4 was met with more Changes to AP Kayle due to the immense power she gained from the New Mastery Tree and indirectly because of her resurgence in professional play. The Damage on her Reckoning was scaled back from [+1.0AP] to [+0.6AP], while her Heal was buffed and her Ultimate, Intervention became free to cast. This was soon followed by nerfs to one of her Core Items, Lich Bane.

In Late June of 2014, due to an becoming a top pick in the professional scene and having a Solo Queue win rate heading towards 60%, Kayle was nerfed substantially to tune down some of the power she had gained over successive years. Her Attack Speed was nerfed slightly, Intervention gained an increased cooldown, and the AP Scaling on her Righteous Fury was cut back to +0.2AP bringing us full circle. Or is it????

Patch Changes (Starting From 3.04)

~~~~Patch 3.04 - The Total Cost to Build a Sheen is now 1200 gold as opposed to 1260. However, The combining Price of Lich Bane has been increased by 60 Gold. So, there is no change in the Total Cost of Lich Bane, and you get your Sheen 2-3 Minions Quicker.

Patch 3.50 - The Cost to combine Nashor's Tooth from Stinger and Fiendish Codex has increased from 200 to 430 Gold (+230) making the total cost of a Nashor's Tooth now 2500 Gold. This of course means that the Total Cost of the Completed Build is raised from 14,670 Gold to 14,900 Gold. Frankly, This doesn't really mean much for Kayle. You already have 80% of your Nashor's Attack Speed from Stinger. It does mean though that you will have to farm approximately 1 more wave to complete it.

Patch 3.50 Balance Update - The Range of Divine Blessing and Intervention have both been nerfed; Intervention quite hard. Divine Blessing goes from 1000 Cast Range to 900 (10% Decrease) and Intervention is reduced to 900 from 1200 (25% Decrease). The Reasoning provided:

"Previous to these changes, Kayle's support spells could often be cast completely off-screen from her opponents. With these reduced ranges, it should be easier for opponents to anticipate her presence in fights."

This obviously means that you will have to be slightly closer to the teamfights then you were before.

Patch 3.08 - Nashor's Tooth is being buffed with it receiving the passive of the now-being removed item: Malady. This essentially buffs Kayle's AP Ratio on her Righteous Fury up to 0.60 which I believe will make her a strong pick again.

Patch 3.9 - AoE on your Righteous Fury No Longer Affects Towers. To be Completely Honest. I never even noticed this. Essentially this means that when you are attacking minions/champions around a tower, the AoE damage won't spread to the tower around them. I don't forsee such a massive change in play-style etc.

Patch 3.10 - One change in this Patch is to Guardian Angel which had it's Magic Resist buffed from 30 to 40. It now also costs 2750 to buy it outright (an increase of 150 Gold)

Another Negligible Change is also anyone that attacks you while you have your Intervention active will still get an assist when you die, even if they don't attack you when you are vulnerable. But of Course, You shouldn't be dying anyway. :P

Patch 3.15 - An Extremely Negligible Change. Arcane Mastery now gives 2 less Ability Power then it used to. Going off the absence of the patch changes over the last few months (No Major Changes tot he Way Kayle Operates since Patch 3.08), I'd assume that maybe Riot thinks Kayle is in a Good Place?

Patch 4.2 The AP Ratio on Reckoning has gone from [+1.0AP] to [+0.6AP], Divine Blessing Heal AP Ratio has risen from [+0.35AP] to [+0.45AP]. The Movement Buff will also now increase by 7% for each 100 Ability Power. Intervention is now Free to Cast

In the Past 2-3 Years since AP Kayle surged back into popular play, this is the first major set of changes Kayle has seen since the buffing of her AP Ratio of [+0.2AP] to [+0.4AP].

The reasoning for the nerfs is as follows (Taken from Riot Patch 4.2 Notes):

"Once she gets ahead, Kayle's burst damage can be overwhelming to play against. While we're taking away some of Kayle's up-front burst, the utility scaling on Divine Blessing should help her and her team get INTO (and out of) THE FRAY."

It means a number of things for Kayle.

She can still be used as a great Burst Laner but you just won't do as much damage as you used to. This build alone is losing 273 Damage off of her Reckoning. Gone are the days where you could two-shot a Carry with a Reckoning and Lich Bane. That doesn't mean you won't come damn close now, but its still nevertheless a small nerf to her direct damage.

With the Nerf to her Reckoning, I think that it is actually better now to build AP along with a bit of Attack Speed to complement her auto attacks. I believe that we may start to see more Guinsoo's Rageblade and Wit's End in common Kayle Builds..

Pre AP-Kayle, Hybrid On-Hit Kayle was a Popular Choice for Laners to utilize Kayle's Damage Spike on her Auto-Attack. We may see this also return to the meta.

Her Heal Buffs are a massive increase in Utility. This now means that you will get approximately an extra 60HP on use of your Heal and 42% MS increase due to having [>600AP]. This will mean, Each heal will result in a 512 HP Heal Apprixmately as well as a 72% MS Buff. (354 MS X 1.72) + 45 = 653 MS.

Intervention is now Free to Cast. This obviously makes it easier for Kayle to go defensive without being restricted by Mana Costs.

"Historically we've run into a lot of problems with champions who use Lich Bane because of its high-power AP burst, so we're taking a look at the item itself. Lich Bane is designed to be a damage supplement for AP champs that incorporate basic attacks into their spell rotations, unlike Deathfire Grasp which is for champions who want to optimize their burst damage. This adjustment lets us take a look at champions who traditionally depend on Lich Bane for their damage output."

Patch 4.5 A substantial amount of changes have been made to runes. The Jungle has also had some major changes made to it which won't influence Kayle Mid directly but may have some indirect impact on her lane relating to the new and upcoming popular junglers and their ganking styles.

The change to runes that is relevant to us is the changes to seals. All Champions now have +4 Armor but Armor Seals have been nerfed. While Health, Scaling Health and Scaling Armor have all been buffed. Scaling Health Runes (Which this Build uses) used to give 175 Health at Level 18. It infact now gives 216 Health at Level 18; An Increase of 41 Health.

Because of these rune changes it now adds alot more versatility to the seals that Kayle can take. Scaling Health is used because you're building Kayle not only for her early game presence but also her late game hyper-carry presence. And it obviously scales better then flat health into games that are going onwards of 30-35 minutes.

However. Flat Health is now also a good alternative if you are going up against someone with a good early game or someone who you are going to need that extra base health early on for in the game: I'm thinking in regards to some assassins who hit their power spikes when they get their ultimate at level 6 before Scaling Health starts to outshine their respective flat counterpart.

I'm generally now only taking Armor if I'm up against either an AD Mid Laner, Such as Zed, Talon or Kha. The other situation I take them is against a champ that Auto-Attacks Heavily such as Orianna where her passive revolves around constantly auto-attacking her opponents or Lulu where her Attacks do more damage.

Of Course, you can only pull this off if you have the luxury of multiple rune pages which I don't foresee many players having 3 different rune pages for one champion unless they main them.

Patch 4.11 Kayle in Patch 4.4 has been nerfed quite hard (in my opinion) after her dominating resurgence in Professional Play after her nerfs in 4.2 and indirect nerfs in 4.4 to Lich Bane.

Firstly, Her Attack Speed per Level has been adjusted from 2.5% to 2.2%. Overall. this doesn't mean much as for this build alone, endgame, it results in a decrease in attack speed of 0.03. Small numbers really.

Her Ultimate, Intervention had its cooldown increased at all ranks. At max rank, instead of a 60 Second Cooldown, it now has a 80 Second Cooldown. It means that on this build instead of having an Ultimate on a 48 Second Cooldown, it will now be on a 64 Second Cooldown. This will require you to perhaps play a bit more conservatively with it; As it may not be up as often as you would like it anymore.

The Big Nerf. I was really worried about this nerf because I thought it reverted Kayle back to Season 2 Strength. Righteous Fury's AP Scaling Ratio has been cut in half from +0.4AP to +0.2AP. This may infact sound like what I'm saying is true. This does infact revert Kayle back to Season 2 Numbers. However, in Season 2, Kayle did not have Nashor's Tooth Passive at her Disposal. What this means now is that she won't have the oppressive and destructive power that she did for the majority of the season but it also doesn't mean that she is no longer viable. She is just a tad weaker then she was last year. Instead of having an effective AP Scaling on her E of +0.6AP (E + Nashor's Tooth + Arcane Blade ), she now has a more moderate +0.4AP Scaling.

So What is AP Kayle?

~~~~
With the AP scaling buff to her Righteous Fury, I like to think of Kayle as a Damage/Second Ability Power Carry (APC) who melts enemies with her Righteous Fury with a nice bursting ability in her Reckoning to assist. Kayle gains an advantage with this as most Champions can only pursue one path; Burst or Sustained Damage. Kayle can accomplish both of these things by building AP. She can also accomplish this with AD as well but to a much lesser extent. [/b] Because Ability Power is actually cheaper to purchase then Attack Damage is, She can actually surpass a fully built ADC in terms of Damage/Second. And in most cases, unless an enemy is specially counter-building you and building MR, then most of her damage will actually get through.

With this build fully built, Kayle can melt away her opponents with her auto attack that should do a minimum of 500 damage without a fully charged Guinsoo's Rageblade or a Lich Bane that has been 'procced'. (Note: This does not factor in Armor & Magic Resistance Calculations, nor does it factor in Runes/Masteries)

I like to play Kayle in Mid-Lane preferably, but she can really fit into any position because of her extreme versatility. I've played a few games of her in Top Lane and have usually ended up outscaling the enemy. I haven't tried AP Kayle as a substitute for the ADC Carry in Bot Lane. However, I cannot see why she wouldn't work with a DPS Build.

Now.. For a couple of quick videos to illustrate the power of AP Kayle: It's not those lucky 5 v 5 Pentakills but it shows just how strong this build can be.
/league-of-legends/champion/khazix-105
This Game was a Better Result for me. Fed Two Kills about 2 minutes in, We were able to take a really good start. However, the other team eventually started to scale and I chose a horrible time to split-push bot while my team was getting destroyed near baron. I just finished killing the 2nd tier bot tower and ported back to base.. Made it there in time just to flash in, steal baron 1 v 5 and kill 3 Players in the Progress, while leaving the other two on less then 10% Health. It also managed to secure us the game as by that point, I was in the Teens in Kills and we were able to successfully push into the base and win.

The Numbers

~~~~
The DPS on Kayle's Auto-Attack at this Point is Extremely Strong.

Take an ADC Caitlyn who hasn't Bothered to buy any MR and because she is ranged doesn't naturally gain any MR as she levels. She will be sitting on 30 MR. Her Armor Increases as she levels however and she will have 76 armor by Lv 18.

Damage Modifier = 100/(100+MR)
= 100/(100+30)
= 100/130
= 0.7692

This is the % of Magic Damage that will get through the MR and Damage Caitlyn.

0.7692 X 348.2 = 267.83 Magic damage that will Hit Caitlyn

Now for the Physical Damage

Damage Modifier = 100/(100+Armor)
= 100/(100+76)
= 100/176
= 0.5618

0.5618 X 130 = 73.03 Physical Damage

Total Damage = 267.83 + 73.03 = 340.86 Damage

This is the Damage that will Penetrate through from 1 Auto-Attack. If we take into consideration that this build has a max Attack Speed of 1.66, Then 340.86 * 1.66 = 565.82

565.82 --> The Amount of Damage/Second that a Caitlyn without any Armor or Magic Resist will be hit for.

Then, We can also factor in our Reckoning, which will hit 409.8 and a Lich Bane Proc which will hit for another amount around the regions of 417.

I.E The Damage from One Combo of Kayle = 340.86 + 409.8 + 417 = 1167.3 Damage. this is just 1 Reckoning and 1 Auto-Attack. Have Fun ;)

PS. I know its confusing, and you're probably wondering where I got all these numbers. I'll do all the math involved in this section if anyone wants to it. As of Now, I'm not going to do it unless someone is interested at looking at it.

Masteries

~~~~

Masteries

4/4

1/4

3/3

1/1

3/3

3/3

1/1

3/3

1/1

1/1

3/3

1/1

3/3

1/1

1/1

~ Fury is for the ever important Attack Speed on Kayle. Gives you an extra 5% Attack Speed.~~~~~
~ Sorcery 1 Point into Sorcery for 1.25% Cooldown Reduction. You can put more points into this if you are feeling lackluster due to the Blue Buff CD Reduction Nerfs. But, of course, it will come at the cost of some damage.~~~~~
~ Mental Force gives you 16 AP over 18 Levels. It's a tad less then the amount of AP you got from the old Blast Mastery, but its extremely negligible to worry about.~~~~~
~ Arcane Mastery 6 AP extra. Not much to say. This replaces the old Arcane Knowledge mastery which actually gave you Magic Penetration.~~~~~
~ Arcane Blade Replaces the old Spellsword Mastery. Does exactly the same thing. Adds 5% AP onto your auto attack, which is an extremely nice addition to a fully built AP Kayle when it comes to pushing down towers.~~~~~
~ Archmage Increases your Ability Power by 5%. What can I say? It makes your Righteous Fury just that more deadly. Remains Unchanged from Season 3.~~~~~
~ Executioner Increases damage dealt by 5% to targets below 50%. Good for finishing off opponents. Exactly the same as the Season 3 Mastery.~~~~~
~ Dangerous Game Restores 5% Mana and Health every time you kill an Enemy Champion. It's certainly a mastery that could mean the difference between coming out favorably in a trade and trading kills. But not that significant all-in-all.~~~~~
~ Devastating Strikes 6% Armor and Magic Penetration. Both Valuable Stats to have. The Magic Penetration Value has been nerfed as Arcane Knowledge used to provide 10% Magic Penetration.~~~~~
~ Havoc 3% increased Damage. What more can be said? More Damage on that Righteous Fury~~~~~
~ Meditation +3 Mana Regen/5 Seconds. Extremely Useful if you are having to use your Reckoning early on in the Match to take control of the Lane.~~~~~
~ Scout Increases Trinket Cast Range by 15%. Purely Utility Based. I don't think you will see a noticeable difference in the results of your lanes due to this mastery but helpful to have nonetheless.~~~~~
~ Summoner's Insight Reduces Summoner Spell's CD by 10% Should bring a 300 Second Flash Cooldown back to 270 Seconds.~~~~~
~ Alchemist Increases the Duration of Potions/Elixirs by 10%. Elixirs are Self-Explanatory. However. Not sure if an increase in the length of potions also mean an increase in the amount healed by each potion or the regen is simple spread over a longer period.~~~~~
~ Runic Affinity Started Taking this so that Blue Buff lasts longer. The Longer you can push push waves with Kayle without having to worry about your mana, the better.~~~~~

Greater Seal of Scaling Health - Any type of Health Seal can help you get away from so many more 1-on-1 engagements but Scaling Health Seals also set you up with a tad bit more extra health for mid and late game. Gives you 175 extra health at Level 18.

Greater Mark of Hybrid Penetration - I've recently taken a liking to these in the last couple of months purely because Kayle, especially with this build also focuses on a tad of Attack Damage with Guinsoo's Rageblade So Hybrid Pen should always be in the back of your mind. As of recent times, I've been substituting out 2 Attack Speed Mark for Hybrid Pen instead.

Greater Mark of Magic Penetration - You can use these but you lose the 15% Attack Speed from your runes and start out on 0.638 + the 4% Attack Speed from your Masteries. For Kayle, I'd personally take the AS. But It is up to you folks.

Greater Seal of Armor - A Great Alternative to Scaling Health if you are going up against an AD Champ in either Mid Lane or Top Lane. Can also help you if you are also going up against an AD Jungler as well.

Summoner Spells

~~~~

IGNITE - Like a majority of the other LOL Players around the world, I also take Ignite. There are times when an enemy champion has been even with me. Both of our health bars are shredding down to nearly nothing... The difference? I have an Ignite; They don't. I win the encounter with 50HP to spare. Never underestimate the power of Ignite.

FLASH - The go to spell for jumping over walls. Used in conjunction with Intervention and Divine Blessing... This combo can easily get you out of a sticky situation..

Alternatives:

TELEPORT - Over the Period of Season 3, I've grown to like taking teleport over ignite sometimes, especially if I'm sent to top lane. As a Champion that can split push extremely well, it is important that you choose the correct situation to take teleport. It also provides a quick way to get back to lane after recalling to buy. and gives you an advantage over your opponent. If they choose to go back to even up in items, then you can push to the tower.

GHOST - A reasonable alternative to Flash. You don't get to experience the utter epicness that is jumping over walls and getting away from a 5 v 1. But Ghost + Level 5 Divine Blessing = 57% Extra Movement Speed. Going from 380 MS to 598 MS for 3 Seconds.... And watching your enemies disappear off into the sunset.

HEAL - With Buffs in Patch 4.5, Heal has replaced Barrier as the Defensive Summoner to take if you are expecting an aggressive lane from the enemy or if there is a lane counter on the opposite side. It also gives a 30% Movement Speed Buff for a few seconds after it is used which means it can be good for sticking to enemies in a teamfight or used to make a normal disengage into a quick escape.

EXHAUST - The second Summoner Spell alongside Heal to make a resurgence after the implementation of Patch 4.5. It is essentially a single spell counter to Assassin all ins. Pre 4.5 It used to reduce the targets damage by 30%. It now reduces their damage by 50% which is an extremely huge buff. You should really consider taking this against an Assassin Mid Laner that is more about sustained assassination if that makes sense (I.E You already counter Zed easily. Akali however, while still an assassin, spreads her damage out more evenly, making her a prime example of who to take the new exhaust against. Another Kayle is also a good example as exhaust both hurts her overall damage as well as her attack speed.)

Abilities Explanation/Order

~~~~000000000000000

HOLY FERVOR: Stack this fully, thats 15% less Magic Resistance they have. It's as simple as that. The longer they stay around you, the quicker that they will die.

000

RECKONING (Q): This is your nuke spell. Perfect for scaring ADCs out of Team-Fights Early. :) Fully built, It hits 600 damage/cast. Not factoring in Magic Resistance built on the Enemy. But the real Champion of this Ability is the Slow. It allows Kayle to chunk their health out and then stick to them with her Righteous Fury and finish them off.

000

DIVINE BLESSING (W): A mana hungry spell that you SHOULDN'T use consistently. There are better things that mana could be spent on. As Kayle has a relatively difficult time managing Mana in Lane if Bullying, you should be never using this unless it is to keep you alive or so that you don't miss a minion wave due to being dived. Late game however, It's (+0.45/1AP) scaling makes it a relatively strong heal. Approximate 450 Health at full build infact. It also can serve as an escape tool. Used in Conjunction with Flash, you can be half a screen away from the enemy before they even realise.

000

RIGHTEOUS FURY (E): This is what makes Kayle Kayle. This is her bread and butter. This is the ability that lets you farm from afar. This is your pushing ability. Your Lane Opponent gone MIA?? You see him down bot? Hit that E Button and go to school on his creeps and his tower. This Is so strong when paired with Attack Speed that it's absolutely disgusting. You should just use this whenever you can.

000

INTERVENTION (R): Even though Righteous Fury is what really makes Kayle, this is what everyone thinks of when someone utters her name. DAT KAYLE ULT. SAVING THAT GUY I WAS GONNA KILL AND HE GOT AWAY!!!!!! *RAGEQUIT*.

This Ultimate is game-changing... as everyone else may have already rammed down your throats. This gives you an extra 2-3 Seconds to bring hell to your enemies. Also Good for tower-diving or trolling your laning buddy on the other side when he tries to stupidly turret dive a Kayle. Teach him a lesson and make sure he remembers it.

Remember that you can ult someone else. Most say to ult the person who can do the most damage on your team. I disagree. Ult the person who the enemy team has just blown all their cooldowns on. That lapse inbetween the ult activating and the enemy realizing that the person they just blew all their cooldowns is now essentially protected from their wrath for 3 seconds, should give the rest of your team time to mop the floor with them.

Ability Sequence

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

I max Righteous Fury first for that extra damage that it gains each level. You max it: Extra 40 damage on your auto attack already. Great for farming early game and getting ahead in creeps. Usually, I then max Reckoning, then Divine Blessing, with Intervention at 6, 11 and 16 as usual.

Items

~~~~

Items

Item Sequence

Nashor's Tooth2920

Guinsoo's Rageblade2600

Rabadon's Deathcap3300

Lich Bane3000

Berserker's Greaves1000

Zhonya's Hourglass3260

DORANS RING - At the Current Time. Doran's is just an extremely good start for anyone who wants to get off to an aggressive start in lane. It not only gives you an extra bit of AP, but it also gives you some extra health as well as Mana Regen for every minion that you last-hit. An amazing base item, but unfortunately like every other Doran's Item suffers from the lack of ability to build it into something else.

000000

NASHOR'S TOOTH - This item makes Kayle a beast.... Seriously though, If you're not building this Item on Kayle, You're doing AP Kayle so incredibly wrong. This item is extremely strong on Kayle; Especially her Righteous Fury.. Even in the early Game, That 50% Attack Speed boost will definitely get put to good use. Commonly, By the time I buy it, It pushes me up to somewhere in the region of 1.3 Attack Speed (Depending on what Level I am at). The 60 Ability Power results in an extra 12 damage per attack and it's Passive Abiity results in a late game addition of 90 Damage as it scales with AP. (Read Patch Notes 3.08 for more Detail). The 20% Cooldown Reduction will make its presence known during the late game when you have a 64 second Intervention

000000

GUINSOO'S RAGEBLADE - This benefits AP Kayle so much. The good old passive of increasing Attack Speed by 4% and increasing Kayle's Ability Power by 4 each stack is still there. But It also gained another passive ability during the Pre-Season. Everytime you fall below 50% health, You automatically gain 20% Attack Speed, 10% Life Steal and 10% Spell Vamp until you leave combat. It only has a 30 second cooldown so It certainly can't hurt Kayle can it? 45 Base AP on it plus a possible 32 extra AP from its passive stacking means an extra 14.4 damage on your Righteous Fury

000000

BERSERKER'S GREAVES - was building Sorcerer's Shoes for quite a long time. And then I saw the Berserker's sitting at the top of the item list...

EVEN MOAR ATTACK SPEED FOR KAYLE?!?! GIMME GIMME GIMME

000000

RABADON'S DEATHCAP - A pretty solid item pick for most AP Champions. Best AP value for one item in Summoner's Rift. And it's passive? Just amplifies the damage on your Righteous Fury so much.

000000

LICH BANE - If you have been following this build word for word, then you should probably be already melting your enemies into mush. (I hope so anyway :D) Now we come to Lich Bane. This item synergies so well with Kayle. You just activate your Righteous Fury and BAM! It's procced. Because of it's Scary (+0.5/1AP) scaling, you should be doing an extra 417 damage on the first auto attack. A Reckoning combo with one auto attack will deal loads of Damage. Scary Stuff.... For the Enemy Team Anyway! :D

000000000000000000000

ZHONYA'S HOURGLASS - The Defensive Item I took for a Long time was Guardian Angel. But in hindsight, the extra Ability Power and Armor from Zhonya's is too good not to take. The Issue however with taking Zhonya's is that you leave your selfopen to receiving alot of Magic Damage as Kayle no longer gains MR/Level. So you must take Care and think about matchups before buying this. If the Enemy Team is heavily Magic Damage Based. Don't bother buying this. Aside from the AP, The Armor will be next to useless.

Alternatives

000000000000000

LIANDRY'S TORMENT - If you want to be somewhat more of a Glass Cannon, then you can replace Guardian Angel with this. It'll give you that extra damage on the end to maybe pick up a kill. The Passive is great, but frankly, I think that it's expensive for 50 AP and 300 Health.

000000000000000

HAUNTING GUISE - I personally don't bother with Haunting Guise because I have 8% Magic Penetration from Masteries as well as Holy Fervor and it eventually builds into Liandry's Torment, which I don't bother with either. Only really useful if they enemy is stacking Magic Resistance.

000000000000000

ABYSSAL SCEPTER - This is really a Situational Item. I build it in between my Nashor's Tooth and my Guinsoo's Rageblade if I'm losing my lane. It provides a good burst of Ability Power, Negates some of their Ability Power and Magic Penetration, and reduces their Magic Resistance; all at the same time.

000000000000000

VOID STAFF - I guess you can use this instead of either Lich Bane or Guardian Angel. Just have to think whether it's worth taking away the passive that Lich Bane provides to get... to be honest, quite a lot of extra damage in. Should definitely take it if most of your damage isn't getting through anyway.

000000000000000

BLADE OF THE RUINED KING - A Little bit Weaker then Guinsoo's Rageblade stat wise. However, the Passive and Active are an extremely good asset to have in your build. The only thing you need to factor in when substituting this is the Enemy MR and Armor. (I.E How much Damage am I actually going to deal to them with this Item???)

000000000000000

HEXTECH GUNBLADE - Quite a Good Item if you are planning to diversify into a more Hybrid Build. The only two items that it could really be replaced into are Lich Bane or your Guardian Angel. Because the Life Steal and Spell Vamp are Essentially Useless, the only real positive aspect of getting this item is the extra Physical Damage and the Active that deals 40% of your Magic Damage and Slows them. Could be useful regardless but you miss out on either that extra defensive slot or you miss out on the burst of your Lich Bane

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SORCERER'S SHOES - Definitely a Viable alternative to Berserker's Greaves. You lose Attack Speed but you get Magic Pen in the Process which is infact slightly better in terms of damage that gets through. It really comes down to personal preference though. Since the onset of Season 4, with a Nerf to Masteries, you may be more inclined to take these over Beserker's Greaves.

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GUARDIAN ANGEL - This used to be the Defensive Item that I purchased everytime I played Kayle. As Kayle generally doesn't build any resistances, I felt that she needed both to be able to remain important throughout Late Game. However, the lack of Damage Stats was hurting the overall Damage of DPS Kayle and I eventually decided to switch the two Items due to comments (See? Commenting does work? :D). Guardian Angel however remains a Viable Alternative in my Opinion if you're not the Burst Carry for the Team. and want to get a bit Resistance Tanky for Team Fights. Also gives you another Life if you Die early on in the Teamfight.

RUNAAN'S HURRICANE - This has become an extremely viable alternative on Kayle since the Lich Bane Nerfs progressed through as Kayle players tried to find ways to supplement the damage lost from the nerfs. The Bolts apply Kayle's Passive which makes her an absolute monster in teamfights when everyone is simultaneously grouped up together. I would recommend you take this over Guinsoo's Rageblade if the enemy team has numerous tanky members and if you are going for a more teamfight oriented Kayle Build. I don't feel however that you should always take it over Guinsoos as you gain permanent dueling potential (Due to insane Attack Speed) but lose AD and AP Stats in the Process. [/b]

Gameplay - Early Game

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There are three possible styles you can play as most mid matchups. Kayle can work in any of them. The First is Extremely Passive. You just sit back and farm. Amass a massive amount of Gold. The Problem with this way is that it can lead to your enemy laner roaming to other lanes and getting kills that way. You'll most likely take your tower. but You'll probably lose your other two outer turrets in the process.

The 2nd is Super Aggressive. Any opportunity you have to hit your enemy laner, you take it. A Reckoning + Auto-Attack + Back Off is amazing Harass. As counter-intuitive as it sounds. Against an Assassin, it works well because it keeps them at their tower and not roaming to your other lanes. You need to keep something in mind the whole time however. Keep CS'ing perfectly. Don't throw away free CS just for harass because you'll eventually go even if your enemy laner is farming better.

The 3rd is a mixture of both. Which is what I like to do. You harass at any opportunity but prioritize farm. Playing Passively when you're at a disadvantage and playing aggressively when you are winning lane and if you believe your lane is adequately warded to prevent a jungler gank.

Level 2 - Kayle is extremely strong compared to most Mids. If she can get into extremely close range and use her Reckoning and follow it up with a few Autos with Righteous Fury, then you will either force your opponent to go back, at which point you push the minions to the tower.... OR They stay and risk dying to you. Abuse This.

Gameplay - Mid Game

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So now we're in Mid Game. For Kayle, I like to think Mid Game starts when You have secured your Nashor's Tooth and your Guinsoo's Rageblade... Mid Game is defined as when teams will group and start taking objectives on a consistent basis.

Dragon, Towers and Buffs will all fall in preparation for upcoming teamfights. To anyone who hasn't built some form of Magic Resistance, You will start to really hurt during engagements. Although your heal is still at level 1, you should still be healing a good 200 Health each cast. This paired with your Intervention will make you a beast in one-on-one engagements. Just follow your team around and when nothing is being taken, just keep farming.

This is where Kayle starts to Scale. Getting your Nashor's Tooth makes it easy to push your lane to the tower and take it. Once you have completed your Guinsoo's Rageblade marks a potent power-spike in Kayle's Damage. You have your core items and a Majority of your Attack Speed. All you do from here is build Damage and Defence Items.

There is also another direction you may take that I often do. I essentially become the Split Pusher of the Team. As most would know, Kayle is an extremely good Split-Pusher as well as an excellent 1 on 1 duelist. Around this point you start pushing out lanes to apply pressure to the enemy. If anyone comes to stop you, then you simply kill them, taking note of your spell rotations. Teleport is highly advised if you plan to do this.

Gameplay - Late Game

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Late-Game is upon us. Everyone is getting close to maybe 3/4 builds. Everyone is scary at this point. This is where Intervention can completely change the momentum of the game. You yourself should be destroying anyone who has been stupid enough to not build any Magic Resistance. And for those that do, you should easily be matching them in damage during engagements. The most important thing in late game is to not roam.

~ I cannot stress that enough.
~ There are certain things that annoy me.
~ Looking at the Minimap and seeing our ADC roaming through the Wardless Enemy Jungle by themselves while everyone else is at base is the most infuriating thing I can see.

DO NOT ROAM BY YOURSELF

Late Game consists of obtaining the Baron Nashor buff and teamfights. Ult the member of your team that is being focused, hit a Reckoning and go to work on the enemy team with your Righteous Fury. It's as simple as that. Attack the Most immediate threat. The ADC is on half-health but a Darius is coming in your direction??? Focus the Darius. Take an ADC approach. Attack what's in range without endangering yourself at the same time.

On the Topic of Roaming (Mostly for When Playing AP Mid)

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Roaming early game is good if your other lanes are losing. It can completely change the game. However, You need to take a common-sense approach. It can help, but if it's not required, then don't. Roaming with Kayle is fairly easy after your Nashor's Tooth as you can easily push a lane to the tower.

Has your Enemy Mid disappeared and Bot Lane is extremely overextended? Ping a MIA and make your way down there. Don't go if the Bot Lane is pushed to the center (No Overextending by either team) Just ping a MIA and warn them that Mid may be down there. Take this opportunity to push the minions to their tower so that the enemy has to pick between certainly losing a tower and possibly getting a kill.

If for some reason, you don't notice that your Enemy Mid is Missing and you realise they are down in Bottom lane, Don't run down there. The engagement will most likely be finished by that time and you will probably end up feeding them another kill. Once again, try to make it an even trade by pushing the middle tower down.

I may as well just throw this out there. Personally. I'm a 0% Roamer. I never Roam unless I'm about to get screamed at by someone. If my lane goes missing, and I have a Stinger or a Nashor's Tooth, I'll just push 100% to the Tower and have it to 10% Health or Destroyed by the time my Enemy Laner Returns. This is where Kayle shines with some AS. Her Ability to take down a tower given a few minutes left by herself.

I've had some ti4mes, where my mid lane enemy has left to roam and I've answered by knocking down 3 towers and leaving their mid lane inhibitor exposed. Not only does this leave it exposed, Mid Lane essentially controls alot of the jungle camps, so not only do I take down 3 towers & earn some global gold for my team, but I also expand my team's access to the enemies buffs and camps, and make Dragon less accessible for the enemy team. It's a 100% win for us.

Counters

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There a few counters to Kayle and really the only approach to take is to farm passively until you can out-damage them.

Akali can be scary early game. Pre-6 She can prove quite a challange, After 6, She can be even more scary. However, While her Twilight Shroud is down, she is quite passive, so as soon as you see her drop it, run back to the tower cause it means shes attempting to go aggressive. Just try and get some easy harass on her and deny her kills. Kills are easy for her to get and she only needs a few to become a beast. Deny her kills, and she will roam in an attempt to get kills. Keep an eye on her. Pings are most important when going up against her.

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I find Malzahar also particularly difficult to lane against as his Malefic Visions can be a pain to deal with, as it causes 8 ticks of magic damage over 4 seconds as well as attracting his Voidlings created by his passive Summon Voidling to you. Another side-effect of this ability is that as it kills minions, it infects a nearby unit which can cause some potentially good zoning. It also restores mana as well, meaning that he can most likely out-sustain you mana-wise. The good news? Except for Call of the Void; early on, his cooldowns are quite high compared to yours. So you should try and keep the pressure on him when his abilities are not up.

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Swain is just scary. You're a legend if you can out-sustain him after he reaches Level 6.. Pre-6, He isn't that difficult to deal with. If you can dodge his Nevermove skillshot, then you will be absolutely fine. After 6, his Ultimate Ravenous Flock will be a thorn in your side during the laning phase. It's range is superior to your Reckoning and the buffed range on your auto attack from Righteous Fury. Because its also a toggle ability, there is no cooldown for you to capitalize on either. The major disadvantage it has however is that the longer he keeps it active, the mana cost to sustain per second becomes more expensive. So a simple miscalculation by him can easily leave him with no mana and allow you to go on the offensive.

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There is not many chances where I am required to say this.. You cannot win this lane. The best you can do is go even with Fiddlesticks and even this is difficult. He out-damages you early game with one point in Drain. His Fear is extremely good at leaving you useless during time you could have spent auto-attacking him. All you can attempt to do is 1 of 3 things.

1. Roam and snowball the other lanes.
2. Hope he Roams and Push his tower down.
3. Farm safely under tower and get your items until the mid-game arrives

MORE TO BE ADDED SOON AS I FIND THEM (IF THERE ARE ANYMORE ANYWAY ):)

Summary (TL;DR Section)

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Kayle has the potential to be an amazing DPS Champion that can quickly snowball if left unattended for any period of time and has the ability to catch up if she is behind. Once built about half-way she can protect & heal her allies potently as well as slow and melt away her opponents health extremely quickly. She is the perfect balance for players who like to carry and go on the offensive but also like to provide utility to their team.

Conclusion

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Well... That's the end of it. I hope you enjoyed reading this and I hope that both you and I can take something from this. Hopefully you can get some fun and success out of using this build and I can get some advice on how to make this guide all the more better. If you feel the need to ask me any questions about the guide, message me on here or add me on the Oceanic Server - ExtremeKabuto

More will be added as I think of important things that could benefit a player using Kayle.

Thanks for Reading :)

Change Log

4/13/2013 - Added The Banners to the Top of each section and done some more changes to the layout of 0000000000icons to make it look more pretty for everyone :) Also, Between now and the last update, I've 000000000 been periodically adding patch changes into it respective section. Very Happy to see that the 000000000 Guide is now in the Top 3 Guides. Thanks for all the Support Everyone. :)

8/7/2013 - Reconciled all the Various Numbers I've blurted out over the past 5 Months that this Guide has been Active and make sure I'm not giving Random Numbers all over the Place :) Also added Hextech Gunblade to Alternative Items.

12/9/2013 - Updated to Season 4... YAY!!

3/19/2014 - Added Notes Concerning Patch 4.4 And Lich Bane Nerfs. Also Realised its been A tad over a year since this Guide was added. 1.2 Million Views. Over 40-50 Comments from Contributors. Thanks for the Help over the last year guys in making this guide one of the top Kayle Guides on Mobafire :)

4/23/2014 - Just cleaning up the Guide at the moment. A good portion of the text that I wrote over a year ago is starting to become irrelevant such as calling Righteous Fury Buffs recent. Some small things will probably be changing over the next few weeks as I read through it. Most of it will probably be unnoticed to most readers.

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